Optimal Lineups will be posted by 4:00 PM ET.
As I’ve mentioned throughout the first week of the 2016-17 NHL season, when there are only three or four games, we will not put out the full DFS Playbook, but will do optimal lineups along with a breakdown of the slate.
This is a work in progress considering last season, we didn’t even provide any content on 3-game slates, and solely posted lineups on the 4-game slates. Nonetheless, I am trying to figure out the best format for these shorter slates. While the optimal lineups that are posted are going to be for cash games, it’s no secret that the shorter slates are more suited for GPPs. I am going to try something new tonight where I will also provide a list of some of the top stacks of the night. If you use some of the stacks as a reference, it should make it a lot easier to put lineups together.
I would love to hear any feedback regarding the type of content you guys would be looking for with these shorter write-ups.
San Jose Sharks at New York Rangers (NYR opened -115 favorites, now SJ -136 favorites) - 7:00 PM ET
Starting Goalies: Martin Jones (SJ) [Confirmed] vs. Antti Raanta (NYR) [Confirmed]
Top Plays: Brent Burns, Logan Couture, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, and Ryan McDonagh
Top Values: Mikkel Boedker and Adam Clendening
Colorado Avalanche at Pittsburgh Penguins (PIT opened -140 favorites, now PIT -183 favorites) - 7:00 PM ET
Starting Goalies: Calvin Pickard (COL) [Confirmed] vs. Mark-Andre Fleury [Confirmed]
Top Plays: Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Erik Johnson, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, and Kris Letang
Top Values: Carl Soderberg, Joe Colborne, Nick Bonino, and Trevor Daley
Ottawa Senators at Detroit Red Wings (DET -142 favorites) - 7:30 PM ET
Starting Goalies: Andrew Hammond (OTT) [Confirmed] vs. Petr Mrazek [Probable]
Top Plays: Kyle Turris, Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman, Bobby Ryan, Erik Karlsson, Dylan Larkin, and Mike Green
Top Values: Zack Smith, Chris Wideman, Riley Sheahan, Tomas Tatar, and Brendan Smith
Boston Bruins at Winnipeg Jets (WPG -121 favorites) - 8:00 PM ET
Starting Goalies: Tuukka Rask (BOS) [Probable] vs. Connor Hellebuyck (WPG) [Confirmed]
Top Plays: Brad Marchand, David Backes, David Pastrnak, Torey Krug, Mark Schiefele, Blake Wheeler, and Dustin Byfuglien.
Top Values: Ryan Spooner, John-Michael Liles, Mathieu Perreault, Patrik Laine, and Toby Enstrom
Line Stacks to Consider (Ranked from most confident to least confident):
BOS1: Brad Marchand-David Backes-David Pastrnak (May change if Patrice Bergeron is back in the lineup):
WPG1: Patrik Laine-Mark Schiefele-Blake Wheeler-Dustin Byfuglien
OTT1: Mike Hoffman-Kyle Turris-Mark Stone-Erik Karlsson
PIT2: Carl Hagelin-Nick Bonino-Phil Kessel-Kris Letang
DET2: Dylan Larkin-Henrik Zetterberg-Tomas Tatar-Brenden Smith [Line updated]
NYR2: Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Rick Nash-Ryan McDonagh [Line updated]
SJ2: Joonas Donskoi-Logan Couture-Mikkel Boedker-Brent Burns
COL1: Gabriel Landeskog-Nathan MacKinnon-Jarome Iginla-Erik Johnson
PIT3: Chris Kunitz-Matt Cullen-Conor Sheary-Trevor Daley
SJ1: Tomas Hertl-Joe Thornton-Joe Pavelski-Brent Burns
COL2: Mikhail Grigorenko-Carl Soderberg-Matt Duchene-Tyson Barrie
BOS2: Ryan Spooner-David Krejci-Danton Heinen-Torey Krug (May change if Patrice Bergeron is back in the lineup)
NYR1: Jimmy Vesey-Derek Stepan-Mats Zuccarello-Adam Clendening
Note: You can always take two or three of the four guys listed in any stack and create a mini-stack.
Goalie Rankings:
- Mark-Andre Fleury (Confirmed)
- Petr Mrazek (Probable)
- Martin Jones (Probable)
- Andrew Hammond (Confirmed)
- Antti Raanta (Confirmed)
- Calvin Pickard (Confirmed)
- Connor Hellebuyck (Confirmed)
- Tuukka Rask (Probable)
Again, lineups will be posted by 4:00 PM ET. If you have any questions, please let me know on Twitter @kle18. Good luck!